Anyone battling a herniated disk?

[P]

I have a L4 and semi L5 herniation, I have a couple movements that help spine flexibility but doesnt really release my pelvis and stretch my hams like I need, my pelvis flexibility is so bad that I cant sit in a perfect L on the floor with my legs locked, Any ideas of stretches I can do that focus on that region? I tried some 2 man stretches with my brother, but forcing it that hard causes sharp pain.

[fa_jing]

Maybe some twisting streches would help? Work on the sun salutation, repeat the set of movements 12 times while breathing through your nose. This takes me 30 minutes and is the best low impact streching I've come across. I can't describe the movements in words. Pick up a yoga book - I recommend "The complete Illustrated book of Yoga" by Swami Vishnu-Devenanda. It's at Border's. Or take a class.

[Royal Dragon]

You need to be VERY careful with this condition. Any exercise that COMPRESSES the back (like bending over and touching your toes) will worsen and continue dammaging your disks. What you need are exercises that expand the spine. They are called Spinal Extension exercises. Many of them are variations of stuf we do in Kung Fu, and some are more Yoga like. Also, before working on stretching you MUST over build the muscles that surround L4 and L5. The dry land swimming exercise is one of the best,(abet difficult) for doing that. You can increse the difficulty by adding weights if you want. I do it with 5, 7 1/2 and 10 pounders on my arms, and 7 1/2, 10 and 14 pounds on my ankles. Trust me, you'r going to be exaughsted by the time youre done doing three sets of 10 reps and it will strengthen your back AND masage the disk back in place.

If I were you, I'd find a COMPETANT physical therapist, preferably on with a sports medicine backgroud. Mine was recomended to me by my Doctor.

Also, I would recomend this one for ANY martial artist or gymnast as an injury prevention measure. Not to mention the bettere torso stability.

Royal Dragon

Those that are sucessful are also the biggest failures. the difference between them and the rest of the failures is this, they keep getting up over and over again, until they succeed. "The more they try, the more they fail, BUT, the more they try & fail, the more opertunity they have to succeed, and succeed they do!!"


Check out the Royal Dragon Web site

http://www.Royaldragon.4dw.com

[SaMantis]

I second Royal Dragon. Be very careful, especially since you are still feeling sharp pain and have limited flexibility.

I suffered a herniated disk in my lower back 10 years ago (can't remember the exact disk but I can still feel it) and could have recovered quickly, but I managed to do everything wrong. Including not going to a physical therapist right away, trying to "tough it out," reinjuring it, not treating the new injury properly, reinjuring it ... basically, a very painful downward spiral. So ... be very, very careful.

I don't do yoga at all so I can't offer advice on that, but I've heard it has several helpful exercises. And dry-land swimming sounds good too, but hold off on the weights at first.

Doing tai chi will help keep you in shape while your back heals -- it's also gentle on the spine because it emphasizes proper alignment. Doing your kung fu forms slowly can also help; just avoid violent movement, high kicks/crescent kicks, or anything that sets off a twinge in your back.

Just plain walking will also help strengthen back muscles.

A herniated disk will put you out of action for about two months, and you should not rush the healing process. Even if you don't feel pain just moving around, strenuous exercise can destroy your progress. Rest for at least a week (preferably two) until swelling and pain are minimal, ease your way back into exercise (don't use weights for anything at first), and once you're able to exercise close to where you were at before the injury, concentrate on making the back muscles surrounding those discs much stronger (that's where the yoga and dry-land swimming and similar exercises will really make a difference). Your flexibility will return very slowly, but you WILL regain it. Just don't push it.

But definitely get with a physical therapist (not a fitness trainer) ASAP. That will save you a lot of problems.

Sam

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Umm ... yeahhhhhh ... that's grrrreat ... -- Lumbergh